Two teenagers who barely saw each other in person built an entire relationship through text messages. One of them died. The question of how much responsibility words alone can carry ended up in front of the highest court in the country.
Two Young Lives, Mostly Connected by Phone
Conrad Roy III grew up in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, working with his family in their marine salvage business and excelling academically and athletically — he graduated with honors from Old Rochester Regional High School, earned his captain's license, and had been accepted to study business at Fitchburg State University. He also struggled with social anxiety and depression for years, seeing multiple therapists, and had attempted suicide once before, in 2012, during a difficult period following his parents' divorce.
Michelle Carter, who lived about 35 miles away in Plainville, Massachusetts, met Conrad in Florida in 2012 while both were visiting family. They saw each other in person only a handful of times over the following two years, building most of their relationship through text messages instead.
A Relationship That Took a Disturbing Turn
When Conrad first confided in Carter about his suicidal thoughts in 2012, she initially discouraged him and urged him to get professional help. According to evidence presented at trial, that changed over time — by the summer of 2014, prosecutors said, Carter had begun actively encouraging him toward suicide rather than away from it, at points expressing frustration when he hesitated or expressed doubt.
Conrad died by suicide on July 12, 2014, in his truck in a parking lot in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. According to testimony and evidence later presented at trial, Carter was on the phone with him in his final minutes, and when he expressed fear and got out of the vehicle partway through, she told him to get back in.
A Case Built Entirely on Words
What followed became one of the most legally significant cases of its kind in the country. Carter, who was 17 at the time of Conrad's death, was charged with involuntary manslaughter — not for any physical act, but for her words and conduct in the period leading up to his death.
She opted for a bench trial, meaning a judge rather than a jury would decide the case, and did not testify in her own defense. In 2017, Judge Lawrence Moniz found her guilty, describing her conduct as reckless and specifically pointing to her instruction that Conrad get back into the truck as he expressed fear, calling it the moment her own "self-created duty" to him was breached. She was sentenced to 15 months in jail, far below the 20-year maximum she'd faced, with five years of probation to follow.
An Appeal That Reached the Supreme Court
Carter's attorneys appealed on First Amendment grounds, arguing that holding someone criminally responsible for another person's death based solely on words violated her right to free speech. Massachusetts's highest court upheld her conviction in February 2019, finding that her conduct went well beyond protected speech.
Carter then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case. In January 2020, the Court declined to hear it, leaving her conviction in place. She was released from jail later that same month, after roughly a year served, having been granted early release for good behavior. Her probation concluded in August 2022.
A Family Left With Complicated Grief
Conrad's family has spoken publicly, and with real pain, about both his death and the years of legal proceedings that followed. In a statement after Carter's release, they said plainly: "She was the only person who could have saved him. She didn't, in fact she was on the line with him as he was dying... Who could do that? She did, and we'll never really know why."
The case prompted proposed legislation in Massachusetts — sometimes referred to as "Conrad's Law" — aimed at explicitly criminalizing coercion of suicide, since existing manslaughter law hadn't been built with a case like this in mind. Similar legal questions have continued to surface in other states as digital communication has made this kind of conduct more visible and more legally contested.
A Story That's Continued to Draw Attention
Conrad's death and the case that followed have been the subject of an HBO documentary and a Hulu limited series, both revisiting the relationship, the trial, and the difficult legal questions it raised about depression, coercion, and what responsibility one person can bear for another's choice to end their life.
Conrad's memory has also been honored through the Captain Conrad H. Roy III Scholarship Fund at the Northeast Maritime Institute, established by his family after his death.
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7 by call or text at 988.
Sources
Michelle Carter, convicted in texting suicide case, released from prison — CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/23/us/michelle-carter-text-suicide-release
Supreme Court won't take up appeal of Michelle Carter's conviction for role in boyfriend's suicide — CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/13/politics/supreme-court-michelle-carter-boyfriend-suicide/index.html
Michelle Carter's Probation Has Ended. Where Is She Now? — NBC Boston
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/michelle-carters-probation-has-ended-where-is-she-now/2803015/
Michelle Carter's texting suicide trial revisited — ABC News
https://abcnews.com/2020/michelle-carters-texting-suicide-trial-revisited/story?id=83835354